Firefighters are investigating what they called a series of suspicious fires that sparked in Little Havana during the weekend.
"This makes the third fire that we've had in this 1200 block within 48 hours," Miami fire-rescue spokesman Ignatious Carroll said.
Firefighters are becoming familiar with that stretch of 8th Street near 12th Avenue after the third and most severe fire broke out in the retail district.
The first of the suspicious fires ignited early Saturday morning at a beauty salon. The second occurred at a pawnshop the next day. The most recent fire torched El Brillante Joyeria, a jewelry store, late Sunday night.
"The first two that we did have, the one Saturday morning and the one (Sunday) morning, is classified as an arson fire," Carroll said.
Because the roof had collapsed and there was a possibility that some of the walls inside had cracked, firefighters were forced to fend off the blaze from outside.
No people were injured, but a cat was treated for smoke inhalation.
Meanwhile, fire investigators, along with police, are looking into what business owners in the district had to say.
"There is talk that maybe this piece of property was looking to be purchased and we're trying to get in contact with the owner of the buildings to get more information," said one officer at the scene. "One thing that we do know that leads us to believe it's suspicious is that most of the power was off throughout the building except for one tenant who had no damage from the previous fire."
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